The Nebraska Legal Marijuana NOW Party will have a contested gubernatorial primary this year, after two candidates filed paperwork to seek the party’s nomination for the 2026 general election.
The party told Independent Political Report this month that both Rick Beard and James Charvat III are seeking the party’s nomination for governor. The filing deadline for the primary remains open until March 2, with the party noting that additional candidates could still enter the race. The party did not go into detail on the current candidates; however, both maintain campaign websites.
According to his site, Beard is a business owner who founded the Omaha Wine Company. His campaign is focused on lowering property taxes, repairing state infrastructure, and increasing funding for public schools, with a significant portion of that funding coming from taxes on legalized cannabis. Beard has estimated that gross cannabis revenue could approach half a billion dollars and generate roughly $93 million annually for the state.
Beard is also sharply critical of Nebraska’s unicameral Legislature, arguing that lawmakers have repeatedly undermined voter-approved initiatives, including measures passed in 2024 to legalize medical cannabis and establish a regulatory framework for state licensure. He similarly calls out legislative actions affecting minimum wage increases, paid sick leave, and Medicaid expansion as further examples of lawmakers acting against the will of state voters, stating that Nebraska needs “an air horn and a VETO stamp” to protect policy from being changed after the fact.
Charvat, who currently provides little personal background on his campaign website, has centered his run on tax policy, cannabis reform, and economic innovation. He has called for eliminating Nebraska’s individual and corporate income taxes, while arguing that any such change should be evaluated in terms of its impact on household take-home pay, overall affordability, and the state’s ability to remain competitive with neighboring states.
Charvat also supports regulated cannabis legalization as both a new revenue source and a form of criminal justice reform surrounding safety standards, and has proposed studying the use of digital assets like Bitcoin as part of his long-term state financial strategy. He has further called for pilot programs and public-private partnerships aimed at preparing rural communities for technological and artificial intelligence-driven economic changes, including pursuing incentives to attract workers to western Nebraska and efforts to revitalize rural communities.
Nebraska’s state primary will be held on May 12, with the general election scheduled for November 3, 2026. As the Legal Marijuana NOW Party is a recognized party under Nebraska state law due to enrolling 10,000 registered voters last year, the winner will advance directly to the general election ballot without needing to collect signatures.
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